Sound
by Kerrz
Summary: oneshot Rin hears a sound from the storage room and gets up to investigate. Turns out the thief is someone he knows.


**Pairing:** Rin/Rikku  
**Disclaimer:** FFX, characters and places do not belong to me.  
**A/n:** I'm sorry, I did it again - again. Rin/Rikku once more, because they're cute. I've had this one, unfinished, on my HD for a while now, so I figure it's about time I finished it.  
---

He awakes because he hears a sound from the storage. How he can distinguish an almost inaudible sound from the endless crashes of thunder is a wonder, but it is probably habit. Thunder hardly ever equals trouble, but almost soundless sounds from the storage nearly always do. There isn't anything to see when he enters, though, and is prepared to go back to bed again, but then his eyes catch a shadow in the corner. He raises his eyebrows, crosses his arms and clears his throat.

"Lusa uid," he says in a stern voice, and the shadow flinches visibly. A quiet _clink_ is heard and he repeats the request in Spiran unsure if the person would even understand Al Bhed (for all he knows it could be Wakka hiding in the shadows, although he highly doubts that. In fact he isn't very much in doubt as to who it is.) A _bang_ and another _clink_, this time louder, and something he can only make out the silhouette of, rolls out from behind the boxes.

"Nooooo," a female voice whispers and it sounds like a hand is clamped over a mouth. A moment passes with no sound and Rin clears his throat again. "No one is here!" the voice continues somewhat louder and Rin rolls his eyes, amused.

"Come out," he says again and a reluctant Rikku emerges from behind the boxes.

"Rin, I swear! I didn't do anything wrong!" She has her hands held behind her back and she looks at him with a pout.

He watches her for a moment, and knows that she has definitely done something. "Then why are you hiding your hands?" he asks patiently and she looks at him, mustering up a convincingly innocent look.

"I'm not hiding my hands," she says and shrugs slightly, but Rin's only reaction is to roll his eyes and raise his eyebrows. She pouts when she realizes that she can't deny it. "Okay, so I did something, but I swear it wasn't something bad!"

"Then why were you hiding?"

She pouts even more in hopes that it will make her get away with it (it has worked before), but apparently his will is hard today, because he doesn't budge, only rolls his eyes again, not impressed with her efforts. "I..." She pauses then reveals an empty hand and then one which is apparently holding onto something. The thing, she doesn't reveal, choosing instead to clutch it to her chest in both hands, effectively keeping it out of his sight. "I was just going to borrow it."

"Rikku," he says and looks at her, and she feels as though she's ten inches shorter than she really is.

"Okay, okay," she takes a breath and then releases it shakily. "I stole a Megalixir." She pauses, but continues when he doesn't anything, interpreting his silence as his wanting an answer. She takes another deep breath and the next words tumble out of her mouth in a quick tempo. "It's just because we're really, really short on gil right now and low on items too, I mean, we don't have anymore Phoenix Downs left and our supply of Potions is pretty limited too and don't even get me started on the Antidotes and Eye Drops and, and then there are those damned thing which petrified Tidus and we're almost out of Softs too and yesterday Yunie, she almost _died_, Rin! I don't want her to die! _I_ don't want to die!"

It takes the merchant a while to notice that her rant has stopped and he's still looking at where her head used to be when he realizes that she had sunk to her knees and she's _sobbing_ into her hands, not even trying to conceal the sounds. "Rikku," he says again and looks bewildered, but quickly sorts out his thoughts and kneels beside her. His hand, through a life of its own apparently, seeks out her back and moves in soothing motions all while he's muttering comforting words in Al Bhed. He does this automatically, though he wonders where in the world he could have picked up an automated response to a crying teenager. Maybe he has watched her father do it to her one too many times when she was a mere child.

"I'm okay," she says after a while, though her voice is so small and her eyes so full of pain that he would have to be an idiot to believe that.

He puts his hands on her cheeks and dries away the tears with his thumbs. He looks into her eyes again and pulls both hands back when he sees her confused expression, but she effectively stops him, grasping one of his hands with the one that isn't holding the Megalixir, guiding it back to her now-blushing cheek.

--

"Rikku," he breathes and she feels something spark in her stomach. She has no idea what she's doing or why except maybe because his hands are nice and warm; calloused from playing with, making and repairing machina, but that doesn't really matter, because she finds that she rather likes the feel of machina-worn hands. Her hand drops to rest on his shirtless chest then grips the hem of the white open shirt he wears when his hand moves down her face and his thumb caress her lips gently. She almost gasps but manages to stop herself in time. She wants to do _something_ that can tell him to keep going and _not stop_, but her body doesn't respond to her request, too preoccupied with fighting the blush and keeping her from shaking like a leaf.

She should be disgusted with herself, she thinks. She's going to kiss a guy almost twice her age and not only that but who is also someone who has known her since she was smaller than a newborn chocobo.

... Wait, what? _Kiss_? Since when did that option enter her mind? She almost smiles; maybe since she realized how close his face has gotten and how she _knows_, somehow, that he won't pull away if she actually does kiss him.

The logical part of her mind objects loudly with wild screams when she moves closer to him, but her body couldn't care less what the mind thinks, it seems.

It appears that Rin could not care less either what her mind thinks, because soon his caressing finger is replaced by slightly softer lips and then they are kissing, simple as that; or more precisely, he is kissing her. She is too busy wondering how the _hell_ this has happened, though not exactly consciously. Her conscious mind is almost empty save for one repeated thought, '_I'm kissing Rin, I'm kissing Rin!_'

His kiss is insistent but without being desperate in any way. It seems as if he simply knows what he wants and is willing to get it at any price. It is calm and measured like himself, but she suspect that that is only because he knows that this is her first kiss and because he doesn't wish to scare her.

She briefly wonders what kind of reaction pushing him away would spark, but the feel of his tongue against her lips, a gentle questioning of her readiness to move further stops any stray ideas that she would never go through with anyway. She willingly, though also hesitatingly parts her lips, more than happy to let him lead this dance, though she does wish to participate actively too. She knows he isn't expecting it when she reluctantly presses her tongue against his because he gasps and she does it again then follows his lead when he twirls his own tongue around hers. She feels as though they are playing some sort of bizarre form of chase. Though if they are, she reasons with a groan that has nothing to do with her thoughts and everything to do with that tongue of his, he's _definitely_ winning.

She has often wondered what kissing someone else would be like, but never in her wildest fantasies had she imagined it would feel _this_ good. Of course, Rin is probably a good choice for a first time. Not only is he patient and calm and gentle, taking thing at her pace, but if the amount of fan girls he has are any implication, he is bound to be quite experienced as well (Rikku will readily agree to that).

Hesitantly he pulls away and she has to gasp for breath as she realizes she had forgotten to do so for a while. It takes her a short moment to realize that the only reason her legs has not yet given in under her is that her arms are currently around Rin's shoulders and her face is buried in the crook of his neck. He has his arms wrapped tightly around her waist and she wonders, somewhat jealously, how he can still stand after that. She feels a little bit smug when she feels the wall against her elbows.

Rin sighs a moment later and the muscles in his arms relax slightly. There is a silent _bump_ when the back of his head hits the wall behind him and his body relaxes a tad more when she whispers his name into his neck.

She wonders briefly if it is illegal to feel this amazing when she is part of an entourage leading a Summoner to her death, but chooses not to dwell on it, favouring sweet ignorance over depression at this very moment.

"I..." Rin begins then stops. His body tenses again when she tightens her arms around his neck a little. Just to keep standing, of course. "I apologize, Rikku. That was not my intention, I can assure you."

"Oh, that's..." She pauses a moment, her slightly giddy feeling replaced with one of anxiety and maybe a little self-loathing. God, she shouldn't have jumped at him like that, it wasn't fair to him at all! "That's fine," she says though, taking pride in the fact that her voice doesn't shake at all. She reluctantly loosens her arms around his neck when she feels him loosen his, and she pulls back to stand on her own. "No harm done, it's... it's not like I've wanted you to do that at all," she lets slip. _Liar, liar, pants on fire_ a voice whispers and the Rikku inside of her mind slaps her hand to her forehead in anger of outside-Rikku's stupidity, and blushes beet red with embarrassment when she realizes she has done so outside of her mind too.

"Do not get me wrong, Rikku," Rin says, and she knows he's called her bluff. "I do care for you very much." He chuckles and with two fingers lifts her chin to meet his eyes. He leans in and just when she almost thinks there is going to be a repeat performance, he presses his cheek against her and she has to grip his open shirt, feeling as though she will topple over if she doesn't. "Had I not been at least twice your age and had you not been on a life-endangering mission which you need to focus on completely, I would not have hesitated to do that again, but alas, I am and you are, and so I do hesitate. You must understand that," he whispers - drawls in that irresistible accent - and she sighs with a small growl.

"Rin, that's-" she starts to protest but forgets what she is about to say when he pulls back a little and brushes his lips gently against the side of her mouth.

"No," he repeats firmly and pulls away. "Rikku, I realize you do not care much for rules, however questionable this one this, but this is not right."

"It doesn't feel wrong!" She is quiet when he only looks at her with raised eyebrows. "Right, Rin? Does it?" she asks, slightly worried that he'll say yes.

He shakes his head slightly but replies dismissively with a shrug, "Feelings are subjective, Rikku. Things, which have dissimilar meanings depending on who you ask, are hardly trustworthy."

She wants to kick him then and tell him a thing or two of her mind, but refrains from doing so. She's tried before and knows it will only end with him somehow convincing her of his opinion however stupid it may be.

He takes her silence as acceptance of his statement (which it is, she supposes) and bends down to pick something up. He holds it out to her with a slight (sad?) smile and she grins a little when she takes the Megalixir from him. She must've dropped it during their... thing. When she looks up from it, she realizes he is almost out the door. She opens her mouth, but closes it again. He leaves without looking back.

She looks at the door then throws the Megalixir into the air and catches it again swiftly. _At least I got something good out of this_, she thinks and wonders fleetingly if she's only thinking of the elixir.

---  
Eh, sorry about this. But, well, weirder couples have happened and I don't know... I like Rin/Rikku. I think they have interesting personalities though I think they'd manage to piss each other off pretty bad if thrown into the same room. But, eh... Review please :D


End file.
